Greenfield Village in Dearborn celebrates that time when holiday lights were more likely to be lanterns than electricity in its Holiday Nights events through weekend evenings in December.

The birth of electric holiday lights, not so surprisingly, began with Thomas Edison’s demonstration of electric lights in 1879 followed by an electric-lit Christmas tree by an Edison vice president in 1882, says Jim Johnson, senior manager of creative programs for The Henry Ford, where Greenfield Village is located.

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In 1895, President Grover Cleveland is credited with the first electric-lit Christmas tree at the White House. The first Christmas tree using electric lights in a public setting was in New York in 1912.

For Christmas trees, holiday lighting replaced lighted candles on a tree, and the risk of fire.

“By the time you get to the first decade of the 20th century, it improves by leaps and bounds,” Johnson says of the popularity and growing popularity of electric holiday lights.

“Here in Detroit they would have been sold at Edison Illuminating Co.,” he said. “Wiring happened very quickly in urban areas. Rural areas took a long time.”

But it would still be decades before electric holiday lights for trees or for outdoors would be affordable to the average person, and readily available.

“By the 1920s, it becomes almost standard,” Johnson says of Christmas tree lights.

It really wasn’t until after World War II ended in 1945 that the growth of outdoor displays skyrocketed.

“We start to see early examples of it post World War II, the growth of suburbia and huge lighting displays really start to take off,” says Johnson. “Energy and cost of goods was so low compared to today.”

With LED lights becoming more available and using less energy, light displays are again on the increase, says Johnson. Today, holidayLEDs.com estimates 80 million homes decorate with lights for the holidays and more than 150 million light sets are sold each year.

About the Author

Charles Crumm covers politics for The Oakland Press. Read his Elections, Politics and Policy blog at http://oaklandmichiganpolitics.blogspot.com/. Reach the author at charlie.crumm@oakpress.com
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